Honor society embraces students with character, “love of learning”
Published on Monday, December 12, 2022
By: Gary Pettus, gpettus@umc.edu
Photos By: Jay Ferchaud/ UMMC Communications
One of the nation’s largest and most selective collegiate honor societies grew larger last week when scholars at the University of Mississippi Medical Center recited its motto during their induction.
“Let the love of learning rule humanity” is the watchword of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, whose University of Mississippi chapter named 39 UMMC students from five Medical Center schools as 2022-2023 initiates.
Presiding over the ceremony held Wednesday at the Norman C. Nelson Student Union was Dr. Jeremy Loenneke, chapter president and associate professor of health, exercise science and recreation management at the University in Oxford.
“May you always find the love of learning to be a primary goal in your lives,” Loenneke said to the 20-plus students present at the initiation; the ceremony was hosted by the Office of Academic Affairs which is led by Dr. Scott Rodgers.
As noted by Dr. Natalie Gaughf, assistant vice chancellor for academic affairs, “students are chosen for Phi Kappa Phi because of their superior scholarship and character.”
Faculty, professional staff and alumni are also eligible for membership in Phi Kappa Phi, which recognizes achievement in all academic disciplines.
Founded in 1897, the honor society is one of the oldest in the country. The charter for the University of Mississippi chapter is dated May 1959. Today, Phi Kappa Phi has chapters on nearly 300 campuses and more than 1.5 million members deemed “the best and brightest.”
During the Medical Center initiation, inductees were awarded the society’s honor cord, certificate and pin.
The new initiates and their schools are:
School of Dentistry – Casey Jeeyoon Park, Tyler Eason Weeks, Landon David Wilson
School of Health Related Professions – Kathryn Nicole Bennett, Sydney Catherine Broussard, Philip William Heine, Jennifer Rechon Legg, Jeanna Dacey Wilkes
School of Medicine – William Lofton Bryant, Andrew Cade Burks, Amia Catherine Green, Wilson Ryder Heath, Zachary Arthur Klopman, Patrick Michael McDaniel, Tyler Lee McGee, Niall Andrew Mehaffey, Baylor Anderson Obert, Cara Frances Pridmore
School of Nursing – Rikki Suzanne Broom, Chiquita Lashonda Davis, Samuel David Dickinson, Brittany Lauren Hall, Sara Michael Kennedy, April Lynn Lawler, Nydjia Cemon Lawrence, Leah Ashley Cage Longwitz, Wendi Lofton McLendon, Shelby Leigh McCraw, John Michael Pate, Heather Rozier, Anna Christian Solomon, Lauren Michelle Storey, Abigail Sullivan Thornhill, Onsby Dale Vinson, Jackie Lynn Von Robke, Darby Raybourn Wade, Presley Ragan Williamson
John D. Bower School of Population Health – Mariah Leigh Cole, John McKenzie Williams